The first thing my Guru told me was “No one can teach you how to meditate”. And I had travelled and sought him after intense search to seek meditative techniques. There is a lot of truth to His words. For truly, no one can train your brain. That is a task to be accomplished by you alone. If you go to the best of Yoga teachers and seek the simple yet elusive methods to calm the mind, empty thoughts and gain eternal peace – the end result is usually shopping for yet another meditation course/s. For if one man could control another man’s mind, it would be a disruptive and corrupted world. We see this in propaganda and politics. We being seekers of the Ultimate Truth, need to realize first that we can’t control anyone else and others cannot control you. The only control you have is of the Self. So you need to make the effort to discipline your own mind. Your Guru can only guide you. He can’t generate peace, contentment, joy inside your head.

The monkey mind of man (or woman) is not a curse. It is required to be in such a state of flux for a reason. And the reason is survival. For survival is the very basal instinct of man and animal alike. Everything else comes afterwards. So the mind needs to be this mixing bowl of thoughts, ideas, dreams, ambitions, worries, emotions, et al to deal with the material world that surrounds us completely from birth to death. This material world has a term – “Maya”. To survive under the influence of Maya, we need our mind to be in its materialistic state. To transcend materialistic cravings and reach eternal contentment and divine joy, we need to train the mind to be free from Maya and its cues, influences, proddings and persistence.

Yoga has three distinct forms. The Asanas (physical exercises) train the body. A healthy body thus presents a healthy mind. The Dhyana (mental exercises of Yoga) train the mind. And a healthy, disciplined body and mind in turn prepare your spiritual self to excel in spiritual pursuits.

Non-Divisiveness and Separative-Consciousness
The physical body and the subtle body which is the mind is always entangled in sense pleasure. We are conditioned to respond to various sights, smells and sounds. Our physical body reacts to this stimulus. Then even the mental body reacts and obsesses over these stimuli. We not just remain conditioned but become addicted as well. We start craving certain sensations. We derive pleasure from all things material. This sense gratification is a universal human nature. It is intrinsic to our conscious being.

When an infant is born, he is suddenly in presence of the whole wide world. This is an intense stimuli. When the unborn child is in the mother’s womb, it is not self-conscious. It is one with itself. It is a miraculous state of well being and contentment. The unborn child is not concerned with the outside world, with the materialism, the politics, religion, culture, race prejudices. It senses nothing. It is in Samadhi – Divine Consciousness. It is at one with itself. Non-duality. There is no “I”. There is no “me”. The unborn child lacks the ego, the identity and hence is satisfied and free from all Maya (external worldly seductions). Birth is painful. The newborn child cries because he is suddenly cast into separative consciousness. He is now no longer in peace, in Samadhi. He is now thrust into the nature, the Prakriti, the surrounding world with its myriad stimuli and reactions begin. So he cries in agony at this separation from his natural state.

Yes, the Samadhi is the natural state. And when we become self-aware and aware of separation from our external environment, the I, the me, the ego is firmly entrenched in our psyche. Then whatever we do, we do for the ego. For we have identified the physical body and the mental body as the actual constitution of our consciousness. But this is lower form of consciousness. The highest form is the one where there is no divisiveness. No separative consciousness. This lack of non-duality causes great amount of upheavals in our life. Life – it is the sensation of being alive among Prakriti – the surrounding – and this aliveness comes from seeing a separation between the ego (the I) and the environment. We react and respond to the external stimuli. We try to control the external stimuli – whether it be a person or an object or a tree. We are a higher form of animal, a rare breed – a human being. And so when we experience this diverse external stimuli and sense ourselves as separate from everything else – the mind takes over the physical body. The mind objectifies everything. And we demand and desire. We try to feel happy and avoid sadness. We seek pleasure and profit. This divisiveness from the universe is the root of materialistic pursuits and Maya is its name.

Advaitya – non duality – is the single most profound discovery from ancient traditional research and analysis. When we realise this non-duality with the universe, one experiences Samadhi. He reaches a higher state of consciousness. This consciousness does not objectify anyone or anything. This consciousness does not make itself aware of the self, the I, the ego. There is no separation between you and me. The world is in one single self-awareness. This higher form of consciousness is what leads to words such as Moksha, Nirvana, Enlightenment, Salvation. These words are rubbish. Because it again gives us expectations and desires. We start craving and imagining special sensations. We visualise heaven or an abode of God or Kingdom of God. Such material tendencies bring back the separative consciousness. We become seduced by sensations and then there is longing. To rid this conditioned mind entity of such illusions, desperate measures are required. Just as Joy is an existence and Pleasure is an experience, the same way Enlightenment is an existence and (Religious) Rituals are an experience.

Intense meditational techniques have been used to realise Advaitya. The non-duality that makes us whole. One with the universe. In order to know, you have to rid yourself of knowledge. When there is an observer and an object of observation, there will always be duality. If you see without the seer, then there is no objectification. There is no observer and observed. Both are unanimous in existence. This is a state of non-duality. When there is only knowing. No knowledge. Knowing!

So arise and awake and know what you are. A cosmic force just as everything else.

About the Author: Ujjwal Dey is a Founder Member of Satya Kiran Yoga. He offers Tantrik solutions to whosoever desires a spiritual solution to a problem. All matters are kept confidential and private. There is no minimum or maximum fee for the services. You could give him one cent or one apple or one flower as fees for Tantrik services – but you have to “give” something. Call +91 9322005050